Polymeric nets are used for a wide variety of applications, including reinforcement of paper articles or cheap textiles (e.g., in sanitary paper articles, paper cloth, and heavy duty bags), non-woven upholstery fabrics, window curtains, decorative netting, wrapping material, mosquito netting, protective gardening netting against insects or birds, backing for growing of grass or plants, sport netting, light fishing netting, and filter materials.
Extrusion processes for making polymeric nets are well known in the art. Many of these processes require complex dies with moving parts. Many of these processes can only be used to produce relatively thick netting with relatively large diameter strands and/or relatively large mesh or opening sizes.
Polymeric netting can also be obtained from films by slitting a pattern of intermittent lines, which are mutually staggered, and expanding the slit film while stretching. This process tends to produce netting of a relatively large mesh and with relatively weak cross-points.
There exists a need for a relatively simple and economical process for producing polymeric nettings.